Michael Festing is a British research scientist best known for his interest in

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

. He is one of 19 members of the UK's

Animal Procedures Committee The Animal Procedures Committee advised the British Home Secretary on matters related to animal testing in the UK. The function of the committee was made a statutory requirement by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (the ASPA), which mand ...

, which advises the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

on matters related to animal testing. He was previously a trustee of the

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME) is a charity based in Nottingham, UK. FRAME promotes consideration of the ethical and scientific issues involved in the use of laboratory animals for medical research, and the ...

(FRAM

, which funds and promotes research into the use of animal alternatives. He is also a council member of the Institute of Laboratory Animals Research USA

Most of Michael Festing's career has been involved in promoting reduction of the numbers of animals used in research. Nonetheless, Festing has been criticized by the

animal rights movement The animal rights (AR) movement, sometimes called the animal liberation, animal personhood, or animal advocacy movement, is a social movement that seeks an end to the rigid moral and legal distinction drawn between human and non-human animals, ...

for his investment in companies that engage in animal testing, which according to the Animal Procedures Committee register of members' interests

includes

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includ ...

, GlaxoSmithKline, Alizyme, Akambis, Cambridge Antibody, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and

Celltech Celltech Group plc was a leading British-based biotechnology business based in Slough. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Celltech was founded by Gerard Fairtlough in 1980 with finan ...

He is also a consultant

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic processes ...

to Harlan UK, which supplies animals to laboratories

Life and education

Festing is a chartered statistician, has a Ph.D in quantitative genetics from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

, and a D.Sc. from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. He is the father of Simon Festing, the former executive director of the Research Defence Society, which focuses on supplying information about, and defending, the use of animals in medical experiments in the UK.

Research

Festing is the author of over 200 scientific papers on laboratory animal genetics and related issues. He has a particular interest in improving the design of animal experiments, particularly in the area of

toxicology testing Toxicology testing, also known as safety assessment, or toxicity testing, is the process of determining the degree to which a substance of interest negatively impacts the normal biological functions of an organism, given a certain exposure durati ...

. He has written books cataloguing laboratory animals, including ''International Index of Laboratory Animals'' and ''Inbred Strains in Biomedical Research''.

Award

He was the winner in 1996 of the

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Gl ...

Laboratory Animal Welfare Prize for his work while at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_la ...

on "improved experimental design leading to reductions in the use of laboratory animals.

References

Brief biography of Michael Festing
PharmaDiscovery, retrieved February 22, 2006

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments, retrieved February 22, 2006

Animal Procedures Committee, retrieved February 22, 2006

Americans for Medical Advancement, retrieved February 22, 2006
"GlaxoSmithKline laboratory animal welfare prize"
Research Defence Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Festing, Michael Alumni of the University of London Academics of the University of Leicester Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Iowa State University alumni Animal testing in the United Kingdom